EDUCATION: Area schools show improvement in English test scores

Local News

May 9, 2009

By Joe Olenick<br><a href="mailto:joe.olenick@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Joe</a> The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sat May 09, 2009, 01:14 AM EDT

The state is out with its 2009 report card in English Language Arts, and all six districts in Eastern Niagara County came through with flying colors.

Local school districts saw scores rise in almost every grade level. All districts saw a double-digit increase in passing at some grade level.

Lockport

Lockport City Schools saw each grade level increase in the percentage of students who passed the ELA testing that’s done statewide for grades 3 through 8.

Lockport seventh-graders jumped to 86.7 percent this year from 75.6 percent passage last year.

That includes a jump to 8.3 percent in the number of kids who scored level 4, the highest score on the ELA test. The number is up from 2.9 percent a year ago.

Superintendent Terry Ann Carbone said early intervention was the key.

“For the past three years, we have seen significant improvement,” she said. “It’s a combined effort. Faculty and staff, believing all can learn, developing strategies that focus on literacy.”

Starpoint

Starpoint third-graders bested all 39 school districts in Niagara and Erie counties with a 93.5 passing rate on the ELA.

Starpoint’s rate of students achieving level 3 or 4 on the test was a 10 percent increase over last year. All grade levels at Starpoint saw an increase of students passing, including just over 95 percent of seventh-graders.

Superintendent C. Douglas Whelan said the reason for the improvement was Starpoint’s focus on kindergarten through second grade. Starpoint uses the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. The assessment helps identify literacy skills kids have to work on. Keeping class sizes relatively small, aligning curriculum and adding a grade level specialist to the staff have also benefited students, Whelan said.

“Mapping curriculum helps us to know exactly what concepts to teach from grade level to grade level and eliminate duplication,” Whelan said. “With the coordination of the teachers, everyone is on the same page.”

Newfane

Newfane had a 10 percent increase of their own, with 80.5 percent of eighth-graders passing. Last year about 69.1 percent were able to reach level 3 or 4 on the ELA. That wasn’t even the district’s biggest improvement — 93 percent of fourth-graders passed, up from 78.4 percent a year ago. Seventh-graders had a 12 percent increase in passing, with 87.7 percent of students reaching level 3 or 4, up from 75.1 a year ago.

Barker

About 10 percent of fourth-graders in Barker hit level 4. A year ago, only 4.4 percent were able to reach that mark. Barker fourth-graders on the whole improved, as 87.1 percent passed, compared with 75 percent a year ago. More seventh-graders hit level 4, too — about 8.9 percent, compared to zero in 2008.

Wilson

Wilson saw four of the six grade levels post double-digit increases in passing percentages. Two grades, third and eighth, each had a 15 percent increase in students who passed the ELA. All six grade levels had passing rates over 80 percent.

Roy-Hart

One of the biggest jumps in passing percentage was by Royalton-Hartland’s eighth grade. About 81.7 percent of the students scored a level 3 or 4, a whopping 20 percent increase from last year’s 61.4 percent. Three other grades hit double digits, as fourth grade (a 16.2 percent increase); fifth grade (12 percent increase); and seventh grade (17.2 percent increase) showed improvement.

Across New York, 77 percent of students met the standards in English this year, compared with 68 percent last year, according to results released this week by the state education department.

Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch and State Education Commissioner Richard Mills said the improved test results were proof the changes made in education statewide are paying off. But there is room for even more improvement, they said.

Fewer students statewide showed serious academic problems in English by scoring a level 1 on their tests. Among the reasons for the improvement, the state said, was the investment New York made in education with increased school aid, universal pre-kindergarten, an improved curriculum and an increase in professional development for teachers.

“These results show that the children who began the grade-by-grade curriculum in the early grades are making bigger gains than those who started later,” Mills said. “And the children who took the third-grade test this year performed better still, showing that state foundation aid, pre-K and rigorous instruction are paying off.”

Students receive a specific scale score on the tests which falls into one of four levels: Level 4, which means the student exceeds the learning standards; level 3, which means they meet the learning standards; level 2, which means they partially meet the learning standards or meet part of the learning standards; and level 1, which means they show serious academic problems.

Testing of students in English in each grade, 3 through 8, began in 2006. Prior to that, students were tested only in fourth and eighth grade.

A more detailed breakdown of results, as well as school-by-school achievement, is available on the web at www.nysed.gov.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

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